This edition of dOCUMENTA (13) is budding with life and may just be a nod to the very first show in 1955, which ran parallel to the State Garden Show. The blossoms shown here are part of Pierre Huyghe's installation "Untilled," but they should be approached with caution: The plants are carnivorous.
Joseph Beuys planted 7,000 trees for the 1982 dOCUMENTA in an act called "City Forestation Instead of City Administration." Under their canopy, Occupy activists set up an art city of tents this year. Each tent bears a word, such as "greed," "arrogance," and other guilty pleasures of the unfettered markets. Directors approved the creation, providing water and power to the activists.
It was not an act of nature that catapulted the rock onto this tree. It was an artist. And the tree isn't a tree but a metal sculpture. Giuseppe Penone's artwork will remain in Kassel following art show.
Swiss artist Christian Philipp Müller planted 60 different types of chard, or silverbeet, on six boats floating on one of the canals at the Karlsaue Park. It's a tip of the hat to the former or vegetable gardens established by Count Wilhelm IV - and a metaphor for linking beauty with function. The park's bridges were destroyed during the Second World War.
They're bars of gold, but they're actually made of compost. There's something revolutionary behind this installation by American artist Claire Pentecoast, who is calling for an alternative currency to the petrodollar: the soil-erg. She also makes an appeal for a new value system and social order.
Art critic Lori Waxman sits in this container, writing "60 Words a Minute." The unusual aspect of her activity is that the artist she's critiquing is sitting right there with her. And visitors can read - and comment on - every word she writes since her texts are projected live onto a screen. It's one of many interactive artworks at dOCUMENTA.
Ceremony master Marcos Lutyens heads the project called "Hypnotic Show." Sessions take place in a park pavillion consisting of two pre-fab buildings which reflect each another. One wooden building stands upright, while the other is upside down in the ground. Together, they are supposed to represent consciousness under hypnosis. Fragrances developed by the artist accompany the installation.
At the far end of this train platform, one hears a cello playing. It's a sound installation by artist Susan Philipsz, based on "Study for Strings" by Czech Pavel Haas, who composed it in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. It's a reminder that tanks were sent off from the station to the front during the war. Jews were also deported to camps from here.
Italian artist Lara Favaretto deposited 40 tons of junk from various dumps and recycling centers at the far end of Kassel's trainyard. What may first appear like a lot of worthless junk is actually metal materials worth 120,000 euros ($146,000). It's a commentary on notions of value and sustainability, permanence and transience.
It's half-time for the Documenta art show in Kassel. This time around, it's green, political and historical all the way. DW shows you some of the most remarkable artworks and performances.
It's half-time for the Documenta art show in Kassel. This time around, it's green, political and historical all the way. DW shows you some of the most remarkable artworks and performances.
